RCB desperate for points

Hyderabad: High on a gratifying game against the Rajasthan Royals on Friday night, Sunrisers Hyderabad face lowly Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium here on Sunday afternoon. It surely will be a hot match.

Bangalore are yet to open their account, having lost both their matches in the tournament so far, a start that does not bode well for the team led by the aggressive and universally popular Indian captain Virat Kohli, who is yet to prove his mettle as a successful leader in franchise cricket.

The Reds would like to believe that they were done in by the pitch in the first and the umpire in their second loss though. Perhaps what Kohli needs right now is Lady Luck.

As has been through the seasons, for all the willow wielders in the side, it still reads Kohli and AB de Villiers when it comes to raising runs. Time Parthiv Patel, Moeen Ali, Shimron Hetmyer and Colin de Grandhomme came to the party.

RCB look better on the bowling front with Yuzvendra Chahal leading their wickets column. Pacer Mohammed Siraj too has done well and will fancy his chances at his otherwise home ground in Hyderabad, where pacer Umesh Yadav too has good memories in non-franchise cricket – he is the leading wicket-taker in ODIs and joint second in Tests.

The Sunrisers were just too good in their previous match at home, overcoming a ‘hundred hurdle’ from Sanju Samson of Rajasthan on way to making a mockery of their super strong total in a dazzling chase.

They would once again look up to accomplished openers David Warner and Jonny Bairstow for yet another solid start —the two have put on century stands for the first wicket in both matches played so far. Warner especially has been playing like a man possessed, on his comeback after a year from the ball-tampering ban.

Down the line, Kane Williamson, Vijay Shankar, Yusuf Pathan and Manish Pandey can be counted to bolster the batting.

The bowlers need to buck up though. Barring the puzzling Rashid Khan, not many have made an impression thus far, not even Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

The seam spearhead came unstuck at the death in both the games. After Kolkata’s Andre Russell took him to the cleaners, Samson of Rajasthan blasted 24 runs off his 18th over, before combining with all-rounder Ben Stokes to take 21 off the last over to hand the Orange vice-captain the humiliation of conceding 45 runs in his last two overs.